W. E. B. Du Bois's The Souls Of Black Folk

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In Du Boi’s The Souls of Black Folk is a compilation of several essays drawing form Du Boi’s personal experiences as an African American. In this novel, he focuses on the race and ethnicity problem in the United States. In result of the novel he became well known for three concepts, being the color line, double consciousness and the veil. For this W. E. B. Du Bois became an important part of sociology and African American history a like. The color line was an integral concept that Du Bois discussed in The Souls of Black Folk. In the chapter Of the Dawn of Freedom, the color line is defined as “the relation of the darker to the lighter races of men in Asia and Africa, in America and the islands of the sea.” (p.275) The color brought attention to the racial segregation that still existed in the United States even after the civil war was won and the slaves where free. …show more content…
In the text Du Bois describes double consciousness as “sense of always looking at one’s self though the eyes of others” and then goes to say that they face “two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder.” (p. 272) This essentially means that the Black community was living, and still to this days faces the issues, in a period where they are trying to unite under equality and fair treatment but also had to live under the fact that the white community sees them as lesser individuals. This split between the cultures makes it near impossible for the African American community to truly find their own American identify and be able to fit into society. In modern America, this is still a prevalent in society. African Americans want to find success so they look to replicate what they see as success. They see ball players and rappers and criminals as all the options they have. With this limitation, they cannot fully express their true self and find their own way through
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